In the harvesting of stemmed crops, such as dry beans, it is conventional to mount a so-called bean puller on a tractor which may be driven through a field in which the crop has matured and dried on the vine. A bean puller conventionally includes blades which project forwardly of the tractor and are partially embedded in the ground so as to sever the plant stems from their roots. The tractor also conventionally has mounted thereon a windrower which engages the severed plants and rakes them into windrows. Thereafter, a combine is driven through the field, and collects the windrowed plants, and separates the beans or the like from the stems and other foliage.
The crop harvesting apparatus and method referred to above are quite inefficient for a number of reasons. First, underground severing of the stems from their roots requires frequent sharpening, as well as replacement, of the cutting knives due to their engagement with stones and other debris. Further, the falling of the plants following severing of the stems, coupled with the windrowing operation and the subsequent gathering for combining, results in multiple handling of the plants with consequent loss of beans. In addition, the necessity of having to drive the combine through the field after the pulling and windrowing operations requires at least two passes of motorized equipment through the field with consequent relatively high fuel consumption.
An object of the present invention is to overcome or greatly minimize the disadvantages and inefficiencies referred to above.